Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Anyone conducting a job search today knows that you'll need to be as visible as possible -- both through your personal network and your online presence. Close to 100 percent of employers and recruiters are now turning to sites liked LinkedIn and Facebook to source candidates, check out their skills, and vet them as to their suitability for the job.Moreover, due to the issues involved in dealing with the volume of potential applicants and their resumes, many firms are forgoing advertising altogether. Depending on their size and their current supply of job openings, companies may either turn to employees for referrals or go directly to the Internet. Consequently, although a position may not be posted, recruiters and hiring managers might well be looking to find someone with your skill set. And they'll likely be looking online. As with other aspects of the job search process, branding yourself effectively on the Internet is critical to your success. But how will you land at the top of the list of attractive applicants? The following is a checklist of items that will help you ensure you're making your presence known:

Make certain you're presenting yourself as the candidate of choice. Identify the current needs of the marketplace and position yourself in ways that will attract attention. Pay special consideration to job requirements that appear frequently in the postings for your line of work. Also note the order in which they're listed. This will reflect the current demand for these types of abilities and experience and how greatly they're valued in today's market.

Become highly searchable. Know the keywords for your line of work and make sure that each of your online profiles is well populated with these sought-after skills. Also be aware that you're presenting your skill sets in contemporary terms. Mature jobseekers might well possess the skills required for the position, but may be using outdated terminology that doesn't "read" well to recruiters.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Kevin Mueller was in his last semester at Miami University in Ohio and he hadn’t yet landed a post-graduation job. So he jumped when his marketing professor posted a status update with a link to a job opening at Launchsquad, a PR firm in San Francisco. Mueller, 22, responded to the post, which led him to connect with Miami University alumna Kristen Hay, a senior account executive at Launchsquad, who hired him.

All of our job searches should be so easy. But as social networking matures, stories like Mueller’s are increasingly common. Still, until I saw a new survey from a company called Jobvite , I thought most job seekers were using LinkedInLNKD-6.39%, not Facebook, to find work. But according to the survey, 83% of people looking for a job say they use Facebook in their social media search, compared to 36% who use LinkedIn which, to my surprise, is the most infrequently used site among job seekers. Some 40% use Twitter and 37% use GoogleGOOG+0.19%+. Jobvite also surveyed recruiters, 94% of whom use LinkedIn, while 65% use Facebook, 55% use Twitter and 18% use Google+.Jobvite cares about such numbers because it sells software that enables companies to identify and source job candidates through their employees’ social networks. To compile the survey, Jobvite ran an online poll of 2,000 people in mid December.I was struck by the Facebook stats and I realized that while I’ve written a half dozen articles about using LinkedIn to find a job, I have never focused on Facebook as a job search tool. At 1.23 billion users, Facebook is nearly five times the size of LinkedIn, which has 259 million members. For that reason alone, job seekers should tap Facebook’s professional networking power. For advice on how best to do that, I turned to Dan Finnigan, 51, the CEO of eight-year-old Jobvite. Finnigan helped me hone these four ways that you can use Facebook to find a job.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Some job candidates believe the interview is over after they’ve shaken hands with the interviewers and have left the room. Well, that went well, they think, and now it’s time to wait for the decision.And perhaps it went well. But perhaps one or two other candidates had stellar interviews and followed up their interviews with notes sent via e-mail or a thank you card.So here’s the question: when is the interview really over?The answer: after you’ve sent the follow-up note.If you don’t believe that a follow-up note is important, read the article, Write a Post-Interview Thank You that Actually Boosts Your Chances to Get the Job, and note that by not sending a follow-up note (according to CareerBuilder):

Employers are less likely to hire a candidate–22%.

Employers say it shows a lack of follow-through–86%

Employers say the candidate isn’t really serious about the job–56%.

If these figures aren’t enough to convince you to send a follow-up, then don’t hold out much hope of getting a job, especially when smart jobseekers are sending them. I hope this gets your attention.So if you’re wondering how to go about sending a follow-up, consider to whom you’ll send it and how you’ll send it.Who do you send it to? If you’re interviewed by five people, how many unique follow-up notes should you send? That’s correct, five. Take the time to write a unique follow-up to everyone who interviewed you.How do you send it? You can send your follow-up note via e-mail or hard copy. This depends on your preference and/or the industry, e.g., someone in the humanities might prefer a thank you card, whereas someone in high tech might appreciate an e-mail. Here’s an idea: send both, an e-mail immediately after the interview and a professional card a week later.What do you say in your follow-up note?1. Show your gratitude. Obviously you’re going to thank the interviewersfor the time they took to interview you; after all, they’re busy folks and probably don’t enjoy interviewing people.

2. Reiterate you’re the right person for the job. This is the second most obvious statement you’ll make in your follow-up notes. Mention how you have the required skills and experience and, very importantly, you have the relevant accomplishments.Topics 3-5 and the complete article

Friday, April 25, 2014

If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably been a little too sucked into the BuzzFeed quiz sensation. And while those goofy little tests are a fun distraction, what if we told you that you could spend your time taking quizzes that are actually beneficial to your career?We’ve gathered some of the best career assessments and personality quizzes on the web. Whether you need help finding the right path for you or want to learn a little more about your working style to help you improve the job you already have, there’s sure to be a quiz for you. And while no test is likely to be able to tell you exactly what your dream career might be, these can certainly help point you in the right direction.

Applicable across all areas of your life, the MBTI is probably one of the most used assessments by career centers and managers alike. The MBTI gives you a sense of your personality preferences: where you get your energy, how you like to take in information, how you make decisions, and what kind of structure you like in the world around you. While these preferences can certainly point to careers that might suit you well, they can also give you a lot of valuable information about what kind of workplaces might be best for you, what your working preferences are, and how you can best relate to others at the office. If you don’t want to pay to take the official test, you can take a pretty good (and free) online version here.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Most of us have probably experienced a point in our job search when it seems like it’s going nowhere.Regardless of the time and effort you’ve invested in your search, you still feel like nothing has paid off. Especially if your search is taking longer than you anticipated, you’re probably wondering where you went wrong.After the recession, the average length of time it took an individual to secure a job doubled from five weeks to 10 weeks. This is worrisome for many job seekers because this time can definitely cost you in other aspects of your life, such as a lack of steady income.If you’ve found your job search to take longer than you anticipated, there’s a chance you’re making some mistakes holding you back from landing a job. To help you find more clarity in your search, here are some solutions to turn it around for the best:Mistake #1: You aren’t prepared for your search.When you lack a strategy for your job search, it’s easy to feel like you’re wandering aimlessly through job boards and postings. Every job seeker needs to have a goal followed up with a plan. If you find yourself randomly applying for jobs and not following up with each application, then you’re lacking the preparation you need for a successful search.Solution:Create a strategy.The key to turning around your job search is beginning with the end in mind. Ask yourself where you want to be in the next six months, upcoming year, and even five years from now. Once you have an idea of where you want to be in the future, search for opportunities that will help you accomplish those goals.As you begin applying for jobs, staying organized is essential. You can start by creating bookmark folders and a spreadsheet to keep track of jobs you’ve applied for and ones you’d like to apply for. You should also begin building a list of contacts who can help you during your search, too. This way, you’ll know exactly who to contact when trying to network your way into a position.Mistake #2: You don’t have examples of your work readily on hand.Mistake #3: You attend networking events in groups.Read more on these three, all five, and the complete glassdoor article

Friday, April 18, 2014

Lisa VaasHiring pros share the faux pas they find in real resumes, including wacky e-mail addresses, defunct phone numbers and cookie-cutter templates.No offense, thebigcheese@domain.com, but if nobody has told you yet, we’re telling you now: That e-mail address is not making you look particularly professional.Unprofessional e-mail addresses are just one way of sending hiring managers the wrong message. If you want to be taken seriously when you apply for jobs, you need to put some polish on your resume, your cover letter and everything contained therein. Hiring professionals repeatedly run across these red flags that scream “unprofessional.” A number of recruiters and HR managers shared with TheLadders common errors from their own professional experiences.1. Random/cute/shared e-mail accountsE-mail accounts are free. There’s no reason not to sign up for your own. Yet many mid-career professionals share an e-mail account with a significant other or the entire family, generating addresses such as dickandjane@domain.com or thesmiths@domain.com..Also stay away from cutesy addresses. After all, butterfliesaremyfriend2010@domain.com, you can always share your admiration of Lepidoptera with colleagues after you’ve been hired. Ditto for offensive, flirtatious or sexual e-mail addresses.Think we’re exaggerating? These are actual e-mail accounts cited by Jillian Zavitz, who’s responsible for hiring as the programs manager for TalktoCanada.com, an online English language-training course based in Canada. (We’ve changed the domain names to protect the innocent.)Instead, adopt an address that incorporates the name you use professionally on your resume and cover letter.7. Everything but the kitchen sink“I don't care, nor have time, to read about your life story,” Zavitz said. “If you can't whittle your resume down to a page or two at max, I will not read it. If it's not related [to the job or your work history], don't include it.”Read all 13 ways and the complete article

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Technology is an awesome thing when we're talking about putting people on the moon and discovering wonder drugs and therapies to help people feel better. Technology is horrible for managing person-to-person interactions and other human activities. Job search is a perfect example. Technology has killed anything human in the job search process. This column is about bringing some of the human energy back into your job search.I'm sure employers thought they were terribly up-to-date and forward-looking when they installed those godforsaken Black Hole recruiting systems, also known as ATS (applicant tracking system) software. They suck, like Black Holes out in space. You send a resume into one of those things and its atoms get shredded and sent down a wormhole to another dimension. Every time you pitch a resume into a Black Hole, a little bit of your soul dies.There's a better way to job-hunt. Here are five small but powerful weapons to use in your job search and take back a piece of your humanity. Technology has turned what used to be a friendly job-search process into a cold and sterile, mechanical and mojo-crushing affair. That's okay. We can have our revenge. We can use technology to beat Godzilla at his own game, one job-seeker at a time.Let's go! ( Here is a taste of the five ways )1)FIND TARGET EMPLOYERS USING THE SEARCH "WHO'S AROUND""Who's Around?" is the name of our favorite LinkedIn search. It's easy to conduct a "Who's Around?" search. Just jump to the Advanced People Search page on LinkedIn by clicking on the word "Advanced" next to the blue box and the search bar at the top of the page.2)UN-BLIND A BLIND JOB AD3) FIND YOUR HIRING MANAGER4) FIND THE BUSINESS PAIN5) HUMANIZE THE BLACK HOLEOur last tip for job-seekers who want to take back the control of their job hunts and get great jobs is to add a human voice to the online job application. Here are two ways to do that.When the online job application asks you to list the Tasks and Duties at a past job, skip the Tasks and Duties and talk about the mark you left on the job, instead.2001-2004 Customer Service Specialist, Acme ExplosivesTasks and Duties:I came into the job fresh from the military and learned everything there is to know about stick dynamite. I answered the phones, attended Skype meetings and set up Acme's first customer-service escalation plan. I trained new employees and helped Acme grow from $10M to $18M in sales.Tell us what's in your wake at each job you've held. We can figure out your tasks and duties from your job title.Find out more about all 5 ways and the complete article

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

If you’re like most job seekers, you approach your job search with a set of beliefs about how the hiring process works, what responses from employers are good signs and what responses are bad. But in many cases, those beliefs are flat-out wrong and some of them can hinder your search. Here are seven of the most common things job seekers often get wrong about their searches.1. “I’m qualified for this job, so I should definitely get an interview.” If you see a job description that looks like it could have been written with you in mind, it’s easy to fall into this way of thinking – you have everything they’re looking for, after all, so why wouldn’t you get a call to interview? But employers often have numerous perfectly qualified candidates, and they can’t interview all of them, which means plenty of well-qualified people will end up getting rejected without even an interview.2. “The interview went well, so I’m likely to get a job offer.”3. “They said I’d hear back soon, so I expect to hear from them in about a week.”Read more on these three beliefs, all seven beliefs, and the complete USNews article

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

You’ve just given your interview and the suspense is killing you. Will they, or won’t they -- and what should you do while you're waiting to hear back? Whatever you do, avoid these eight post-interview mistakes that could affect your candidacy.1) You don’t send a thank-you note: Honestly, this is not a requirement, but it is the polite thing to do. Many a time candidates do not follow up with a thank-you note either because they feel they’ve aced the interview or because they believe that they’ve tanked it and in either case, the thank-you note seems just redundant. But the truth is it is a very simple gesture that can leave a strong impression on your interviewer, if written well. 2) Your thank you note is too long and/or has a lot of errors:3) You use your thank-you note as an explanation sheet:See more on these tips, all 8 tips, and the complete article

Friday, April 11, 2014

A simple, yet highly effective strategy for making search returns more manageable. Instead of several hundred job posts to weed through, I get a more manageable list. Using this strategy, I often find jobs, positions, or companies I never knew existed or considered.Step 1: Think of random products, objects, foods, places, events, professional organizations, etc. For example, "beer," "hot dog," "lemonade," "dog," "hell," "samosa," "PRSA," and so on. I also sometimes use random vocabulary words: "neophyte," "rhetoric," and "greco."Step 2: Plug your term into job board search engines. (I like to search LinkedIn, Indeed, SimplyHired, and CareerBuilder.) I will assume your second search filter will be location. If location is irrelevant to you, find a suitable second criterion to filter search results.Steps 3, 4, and the complete article

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Job fairs are a great way for employers and job seekers to meet face-to-face without having to spend a lot of time and effort coordinating a typical interview.However, for the job seeker, the convenience of being able to meet with multiple hiring managers at a predetermined time and place doesn’t mean that preparing for the interviews will be any easier or require any less effort — in fact, it’s just the opposite.

Better for Them, Tougher for You

In the minds of the hiring managers who attend a job fair (and often pay a fee for the privilege), the more potential candidates they are able to meet with, the better. They understand that the more people who interview for a specific job, the more selective they can be and the more likely it is that they’ll find the perfect fit.Unfortunately for the average job seeker, the odds are most definitely not in his favor.The hiring manager at the job fair will be meeting with dozens of potential candidates for a few open positions. He will also be on a tight schedule and only be able to spend a few minutes with each person.This means two things:

You have less than a minute to make a strong, positive first impression.

The majority of the work must be done before and after the meeting.

Here are some tips on preparing for a job fair interview and standing out from the crowd:

Before the Interview

Research. Learn everything you can about the company, its customers, its products, and its competitors. Even learn the names of a few of its top executives or managers. Know where the company is and where it does business.

During the Interview

Keep it short. You do want to make sure the interviewer knows about your skills and accomplishments, but keep the discussion short and sweet. What he really wants to determine is whether you can help his organization today.

After the Interview

Collect and capture. As soon as the interview is over, take a few minutes to quickly jot down some notes from the meeting. Pay attention to small details, including the questions you asked, the answers the interviewer gave, and any other interesting facts or ideas that came up during the conversation.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

2. Not Knowing Your Audience

You’d think there are certain things that would be givens: Like not trotting out any big, red flags that could put the kibosh on your getting the job. “In our business, you have to be dedicated to the country and the military,” explains Scott Maddox, site manager at a national defense corporation. “Not to mention, you have to be able to pass a background check. I had one applicant who slyly mentioned that he does everything in his power to not pay his taxes. I couldn’t believe he would say something like that to a company that works with the government.”

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

When you are on the hunt for a new job, it can sometimes feel like you are walking a tight-rope/ walking on eggshells or walking in some other equally precarious hypothetical situation.

There’s an enormous amount of pressure on you at each stage of the application process, not only to fully represent your talents, skills and personal attributes, but also to avoid those pitfalls which might spell the end for your application.

Whilst it is true that the vast majority of recruiters will give your application the consideration it deserves, with such a competitive job market (and recruiters being basically spoilt for choice) employers are becoming ever more diligent about the small details. Things which in the past might have been ignored, can now mean the difference between getting a job and failure!

So to give you a little hand to avoid some of these mistakes, we have put together this quick list of things which recruiters can find very irritating.

1) Listing your oldest work experience first on your resume - It doesn't matter that you were a hall monitor in 7th grade. Don't make me scroll halfway down the page to find the relevant information.

2) Going overboard with formatting - If you are applying to a larger company it is very likely that your resume will be scanned / parsed by an automated system. If you have you text at odd angles or lots of boxes and graphics in your resume the system will not be able to read the text correctly.

Monday, April 7, 2014

In a job search, your resume plays an important role. It highlights your strengths and qualifications for prospective employers and can entice them to call you for an interview.

But when you apply for an opening, your resume could be just one of dozens, or even hundreds. Lacking the time to examine every document in depth, the hiring manager or human resources recruiter may give each resume only a quick once-over. How can you ensure your resume stands out? Using green or pink paper and multicolored ink is one option, but not the best one, since you're likely to come across as unprofessional.Instead, follow these guidelines.Keep it short. Unless you have decades of experience or are applying for a high-level position, keep your resume to one or two pages. To save space -- and impress the hiring manager -- prune anything not germane to the specific job you seek. Leave off personal, biographic details such as you hobbies and the names of your family members.Use a clean, uncluttered format.Customize the resume for each job opening.Quantify your accomplishments. Read more on these 4 tips, all 8 tips, and the complete article

Friday, April 4, 2014

By Perry NewmanA newly coined term that has become ubiquitous over the past decade in the Job Search sphere is Value Proposition. You’ll read and hear about it in association with networking, writing a resume and conducting an interview. The first step in defining your Value Proposition is also where many go wrong; they fail to understand that value, just like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. To find your true value you must first know what people need and want from you more so than concentrating on what you have to offer.IN A RESUME: In many new style resumes you will find various sections titled Value Proposition. Some include a text box listing highly desired skills and keywords under the section heading of Value Proposition. Some resumes include a section where they expound on valuable character traits an employer desires and title this section Value Proposition. Some resumes will list relevant achievements and accomplishments and this area is called Value Proposition. All three approaches can be successful in a resume as long as you know what the employer values most and where and how to visually place it in the resume for maximum effect.IN AN INTERVIEW:IN NETWORKING:Read more on all 3 and the complete CareerRocketeer artcile

Thursday, April 3, 2014

For any given job opening, HR personnel and hiring managers are deluged with resumes. Since they don’t have the time or resources to interview everyone, they are always looking for ways to weed out candidates as quickly as possible.In fact, some merely glance at each resume before deciding whether to toss it in the "yes" or "no" pile. So, it's imperative that you make those few seconds count.Here are 12 ways to make your resume stand out:1. Incorporate industry keywords and buzzwords into your resume, but don’t overdo it.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Since the economic down turn in 2007, people all over the world have lost their jobs. Yes we are in a recession and yes it is harder to find a job but that does not mean there are no jobs out there.You wouldn’t go into an exam unprepared so why go job hunting unprepared? Here are 9 simple steps to getting you the job you’ll love:

1) Decide on the job:

Firstly decide what type job you would like to apply for and research the job you want before you start anything else! It’s important to know what you are trying to get.

6) Put extra info into your cover letter:

At this point you will now write your cover letter for the job you are applying for, again tailoring it to each job you apply for and here you will add in any extra information. This letter should be personally addressed to the recruiter of the company (if you don’t know who that is try researching online using tools like LinkedIn). Use information that will grab their attention – it should be again different for every job you are applying for. Key words and key phrases are important here, show the company what they will gain if they hire you and what you can offer them. Be positive and knowledgeable. Give a date that you are available to start on.

5) Tailor your CV:

Your CV must be now rewritten for the jobs you are applying for. Always, always, always tailor your CV to the job that you are applying for. This is a big must. Use key words from the job advert in your CV; this helps the employer identify the good candidates from the great.Read the complete article for all 9 steps

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

What’s the one thing you never, ever want to see on a resume from a potential hire?Read on for some enlightening insights into what might raise a red flag when experienced business professionals read your resume…A Lie (Any Lie)